Short-toed Treecreeper
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| Certhia brachydactyla Brehm, 1820 |
The Short-toed Treecreeper, Certhia brachydactyla, is a small passerine bird found through much of warmer temperate Europe and into north Africa. It is a member of the treecreeper family. It is closely related to the very similar Brown Creeper from North America (Tietze et al., 2006).
The Short-toed Treecreeper is the only treecreeper which breeds in southern Spain or eastern Turkey. It is a major rarity in Great Britain. It has a generally more southerly distribution than the other European species, the Common Treecreeper whith which it is easily confused, although there is extensive range overlap in western Europe. Where both occur, Short-toed Treecreeper tends to prefer deciduous trees.
It is a resident in woodlands throughout its range, and nests in tree crevices or behind bark flakes. About six eggs are laid.
This is a small bird, 12-13.5 cm in length, fairly drab in appearance, streaked brownish above and white below. It has long stiff tail feathers which help it creep up tree trunks like a mouse looking for insects. It has a long curved bill.
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Certhia brachydactyla. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Tietze, Dieter Thomas; Martens, Jochen & Sun, Yue-Hua (2006): Molecular phylogeny of treecreepers (Certhia) detects hidden diversity. Ibis 148(3): 477-488 doi:doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00547.x (HTML abstract)
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